An example of artistic terrorism found in the US!

The Turkish Minister of Interior İdris Naim Şahin's new definitions of terrorism, which were condemned by academics, artists, and writers in Turkey and elsewhere, put GIT - North America to work. We searched for an example of terrorism in art, something that would explain what Mr. Şahin had meant when he claimed that some people support terrorism by twisting it, by making up justifications for it, and by rendering it reasonable. He had said: "And how do they achieve that? Maybe they paint their reflections on a canvas. ... Unable to slow down, they get carried away and try to demoralize the soldiers or the police, who fight against terrorism, by turning them [fighters] into the subject matter of their works of art." Luckily, we were able to nail down what Mr. Şahin had in mind. Below you see a photo collage that makes use of a digitized image of "The Death of Socrates" (1787) by Jacques-Louis David (the original is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York).

In this image, David's Socrates, presented here as continuing to speak with his disciples even while reaching for the cup of hemlock that will kill him, a police officer is seen pepper spraying him. This officer is Lt. John Pike, who pepper sprayed peaceful protesters at the University of California (UC), Davis, on November 18, 2011, and soon after became an internet meme.

This is the kind of art in which the artist tries "to demoralize ... the police, who fight against terrorism, by turning them [fighters] into the subject matter of their works of art." One might say that the college students were not terrorists but were simply protesting the UC tuition hike, but then this is exactly the kind of activity that might be labeled "terrorist" in Turkey. Who knows, perhaps Mr. Şahin might want to advise Ms. Janet Napolitano, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, on these issues. Given the Homeland Security approach that US police forces adopted toward Occupy protesters in recent months, Ms. Napolitano might well be inspired!

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To see an intervention letter by the Middle East Studies Association Committee on Academic Freedom (MESA CAF) on the UC Davis incident, please visit:

http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/committees/academic-freedom/intervention/letters-north-america.html